


While You Were Sleeping

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 17:13:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10575819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Alex discovers that the Sleeping Widow's dormant state had a devastating effect on Jorvik.





	

Alex bit her lip as she stared at the glowing, chiming rune stone. This was the third time today that it’d lit up like that. The Jarlassons had contacted her each time, but third time was, well…

“Shit,” said Alex. “This isn’t good.”

“Have you been reading them?” asked Tin Can.

“Yes, every day,” said Alex. “But none of the others are acting like this.”

“It was the first one that played up too,” said Tin Can.

“Why this one, though?” asked Alex. “That’s what I can’t work out. Maybe the reading isn’t working, maybe we have to try something else.” She dismounted.

“Something like what?” asked Tin Can, but Alex was already putting the palms of her hands to the stone. She stiffened and then shivered as the power coursed through her.

She’d told Louisa that the flow of energy between Pandoria and Jorvik was strong, but she hadn’t expected it to be this strong. This was almost catastrophic. She could feel the energy spilling over, breaking the banks of the metaphorical river, and soaking into the ground of Jorvik. But that ground was already soaked, and it felt like it had been for years. There was Pandorium growing here, for heaven’s sake, why hadn’t anyone suspected this?

“Alex!” Suddenly, Tin Can’s head was pushing her back, and Alex’s eyes flew open as her hands left the smooth, cool stone. She trembled.

“It’s pink,” said Alex. “Everything is pink. I could see it, Tin Can.”

“Well, it is near sunset,” said Tin Can. “That does make everything pink.”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” said Alex. “It’s… god, it’s terrible. The entirety of the Harvest Counties is just pink.”

“Is it like this anywhere else, do you think?” asked Tin Can.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” said Alex, climbing back into the saddle.

“Should Louisa come too?” asked Tin Can.

“Nah, I can do this on my own,” said Alex.

She headed out, not bothering to check the other rune stones in the area. They’d all tell her the same thing: that the Harvest Counties was soaked in Pandoric energy. She’d sensed that it was strongest in Guardians’ Dale, which was no surprise, and in Old Hillcrest, which was concerning but not surprising at all. Fort Maria had been invisible, and Devil’s Gap had been shrouded in inky blackness. 

Silverglade was not as heavily soaked in Pandoric energy, but when Alex put her hands to the rune stone on Everwind Fields (Spirit Hill, she’d heard people calling it), she was surprised to find Pandoric energy running in lines. There was a line running from somewhere in the Hollow Woods to near the windmill, where it then angled off in another direction towards Valedale. Alex concentrated, and suddenly she could see from above, just as she had done in the Harvest Counties. She was so surprised by the star that she nearly broke her concentration. Thick pink lines marked it out, making Alex shiver. They were like ley lines, but no ley lines were that straight. These ones were man-made. There was even one heading towards the Harvest Counties, where it was swallowed up by the pink haze covering everything.

Alex came out of her surveyance and tapped in Linda’s phone number with trembling fingers.

“Linda, Jorvik is soaked in Pandoric energy,” said Alex.

“Yeah, it always has been,” said Linda.

“Yeah, but there’s this star in the middle,” said Alex. “Hang on, I’ll be there in a sec, I’ve just gotta get to the library.”

At the library, Alex drew the star onto a map of Jorvik. She resisted the urge to colour it in pink, and instead just drew the star in pink highlighter.

“There, see?” said Alex, pointing it out to her friend. “And the Harvest Counties is just absolutely soaked in Pandoric energy.”

“That’s weird,” said Linda. “I think I remember reading something like this when I was reading about the ancient trees. Hold on, I’ll just grab that book.”

Alex waited impatiently while Linda flipped through the book, and then almost jumped on it when Linda found the right page.

“Right here, it says that, as part of their mission to protect Jorvik, the ancient trees were there to control the flow of energy between Jorvik and Pandoria. More importantly, they were meant to stop Pandoric energy from soaking Pandoria,” said Linda.

“And the Harvest Counties is soaked because there’s only one tree there,” Alex guessed.

“One that was dormant until just recently,” said Linda.

“Should we tell her?” asked Alex. “Let her know that evil crept in while she was sleeping?”

“If you want,” said Linda. “But don’t be surprised if she insults you for a good fifteen minutes before agreeing to do this for the sake of Jorvik.”

“Can I tell her how selfish she’s been?” asked Alex.

“The only reason I’m not going is because I won’t be able to hold back,” said Linda.

Alex tried not to think about the Pandoric energy under Tin Can’s hooves as she rode across the Forgotten Fields. Some of the rune stones were lit up and chiming, but Alex had no time to check them. Now that she knew why this had happened, she was angry.

“Hey, Widow!” Alex called, dismounting Tin Can and resisting the urge to fire up Soul Strike or get her wand out. 

“Soul Rider,” the Widow creaked, her voice like wind sighing through leaves. “What can I do for you this time?”

“Do you have any idea what happened while you were sleeping?” asked Alex.

“Many things,” said the Widow.

“The world passes you by when you’re sleeping,” said Alex. “And, by the way, Pandoria has been poisoning this land since then! The thing you were meant to stop!” There was a cracking noise as the tree’s branches moved more violently.

“I am not the only one who stopped when my soulmate died, Alexandra Cloudmill,” said the tree. Alex gritted her teeth.

“I only stopped for a few days,” said Alex. “And your job is far more important than mine.”

“Oh, really? Is your job not to protect Jorvik? To monitor the flow of energy? To drive out the darkness with the dazzling light you fling from your hands?” Alex couldn’t argue with that, but she still tried.

“I’m making up for it,” said Alex. “I’m back to monitoring the energy now. I do border patrols, I’ve saved one of my friends.”

“I have saved one of you too,” said the tree.

“Yes, and we’re very grateful,” said Alex. “But just stop feeling sorry for yourself for five minutes and use your roots for the reason you have them. Sense the energy. Can you sense it?”

The creaking and crackling came to a stop. There was only the coastal breeze sighing through the tree’s leaves.

“Oh,” said the tree at last. “I was not aware.”

“Now communicate with the other trees,” said Alex. “Ask them what’s been happening.”

More silence. Alex allowed herself to feel sorry for the tree. She’d lost her soulmate too, after all. Only she could get her soulmate back, whereas the tree… the tree would be alone forever.

“I should have expected this,” said the tree after a lengthy silence. Alex wiped away silent tears.

“So what are you going to do?” asked Alex, her voice a little husky.

“What I have been neglecting to do for so long,” said the tree. “I will cleanse the earth. But I need your help.”

“What do you need me to do?” asked Alex.

“I need you to monitor the stones more closely,” said the tree. “How did you detect the Pandoric energy?”

“I put my hands to the stone,” said Alex.

“Do that again to monitor the cleansing process,” said the tree. “It takes a lot of energy to cleanse the land, after all, so I cannot do that as well.” Alex privately thought that the tree was just being surpremely lazy, but she chose not to comment on it.

“Should I report back to you?” asked Alex.

“Yes,” said the tree. “Unfortunately you cannot contact me via text message or email, but I’m sure you’ll figure out something.”

“I’ll come by here on my way through,” said Alex.

“Very well,” said the tree. “Together, we will cleanse Jorvik of this Pandorian poison.” Alex was silent for a moment, wondering if she should even ask. It was worth a shot.

“Hey,” said Alex. “You saved Lisa, right? Would you be able to, uh…”

“I am sorry, but I cannot do that,” said the tree. “I have the power, but even my roots could not reach her. It is a miracle that I was even able to rescue your friend.”

“Thought so,” said Alex. She sighed. “Thanks for everything you’ve done. And sorry for yelling at you.” This time, the wind sighing through her leaves sounded like laughter.

“It is alright,” said the tree. “I needed to be told.”

On the way back to the winery, Alex chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” asked Tin Can.

“Never thought I’d be able to relate to a tree,” said Alex.


End file.
